Ebony & Ivory (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Jim HoskingRelease Date(s)
2024 (March 4, 2026)Studio(s)
Bosena/Reingeist Productions/SpectreVision/Sweetshop/Timpson Films/afterhrs (Umbrella Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: C+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: C+
Review
[Editor’s Note: This is a Region-Free Australian Blu-ray import.]
At the beginning of the audio commentary that accompanies this release, writer and director Jim Hosking half-jokingly refers to his approach to making movies as “you sort of sprinkle the absurdity on top of the commitment.” That more or less sums up the existence of Ebony & Ivory, his third film. Making an underground splash with The Greasy Strangler in 2016, his work can be polarizing, to say the least, relying on unusual characters and absurd situations, as well as humor that can only work if you’re under the influence of drugs, or you’re just into that type of thing. Ebony & Ivory is definitely the chief example of this, which at the outset seems like it’s going to be a different type of film, but then launches into a highly unorthodox examination of two characters, but not necessarily the people whom they’re based upon.
The story of Ebony & Ivory is a thinly-veiled but, for legal reasons, extremely fictional account of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder meeting for the first time to collaborate on the titular song, or so it seems. In the film, “Stevie” (Gil Gex) arrives by rowboat off the coast the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland where “Paul” (Sky Elobar) is waiting to escort him to his secluded farm house. Once there they bicker, argue, and eventually come to a meeting of the minds while partaking of Paul’s expensive smokey tea, the local brew, cannabis, fruit juice, and vegetarian meals. Ultimately, they come to an understanding and Stevie heads back home, leaving Paul on the beach with tears in his eyes.
In reality, this fictionalized meeting didn’t happen at all. Paul McCartney met Stevie Wonder backstage at the Scotch of St. James club in 1966 after one of Stevie’s performances and they purportedly hit it off. In 1981, Paul brought Stevie into the studio to record a duet for Ebony & Ivory, which Paul did indeed write at his farm house in Scotland. The subsequent recording was released the following year to much success, so much so that it was famously parodied on Saturday Night Live with Eddie Murphy as Stevie Wonder and Joe Piscapo as Frank Sinatra who insists that the song is “too artsy for the public, capiche?” (Look it up if you’re never seen it, it’s well worth your time.)
What writer and director Jim Hosking has portrayed in Ebony & Ivory is nothing short of fallacy, but in an absurdly exploratory fashion. Anyone familiar with aspects of Paul McCartney’s and Stevie Wonder’s lives will get a little more humor out of it than those who don’t. Otherwise, it’s absurdist style of comedy will only appeal to certain factions of audiences. Fans of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, or really any brand of Adult Swim’s stoner humor, will understand and appreciate Ebony & Ivory. Very repetitive and often ridiculous, even its director admits that he was hard-pressed to leave as much of it in the final cut as he did, with producers peering over his shoulder wondering just what the hell he was up to.
The Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder of this film are pretty much in name only as they barely resemble their real life counterparts. Paul is a gracious host that loves his “By the Wife” brand of frozen vegetarian meals, while Stevie is often angry and uncomfortable at every turn, insulting Paul’s meals, drinks, and even the temperature of his bath water. He’s often prone to what many would perceive from the outside to be a type of Tourette’s, repetitively exclaiming “SHIT AND FUCK, SHIT AND FUCK!” We hang out with these two for 90 minutes as they have some beers and whiskey, smoke some “woobie doobies,” walk the Scottish countryside, visit the local sheep, and swim nude in the freezing waters off the coastline. We then watch as Paul brings Stevie home from swimming completely nude (with exaggeratedly-long penis appliances dangling between their legs) and places him in his bed before running off to make him his requested “hot choccy.” Meanwhile, we also experience Stevie’s increasingly bizarre dreams as the two of them begin to connect with each other.
Yet at the same time, Ebony & Ivory looks surprisingly beautiful and has heart. Jim Hosking invents his own musical lore and gives it a sweetness that’s unusual, but charming. As strange and off-kilter as these characters can be, you want to see where this relationship goes, and that’s the real victory in a film like this.
Cinematographer Mårten Tedin shot Ebony & Ivory digitally and the results were (likely) finished as a 4K Digital Intermediate in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Umbrella Entertainment brings the film to Blu-ray only, encoded to a dual-layered BD-50 disc. It’s a lovely high definition presentation with a strong bitrate in the 30 to 40Mbps range offering plenty of fine detail. The interiors and shadows of Paul’s farm house can be a little flat, but there’s no major crush to be found. A UHD presentation with HDR would certainly iron out the contrast and give the image some additional depth, but the image is still solid with no real issues to speak of.
Audio is included in English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. The 2.0 is a basically a fold-down, but both tracks are similar outside of how many speakers they’re meant for. Andrew Hung’s score is nice and spacious with occasional panning, and sounds just a touch higher in the mix on the 5.1 presentation, but not by much. Dialogue exchanges are clean and discernible, and sound effects give each track some nice depth.
Umbrella Entertainment’s Region-Free Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of Ebony & Ivory sits in a clear Amaray case with double-sided artwork, with and without the Australian classification rating, as well as a double-sided poster featuring two of the film’s posters on either side. Alongside it is a set of 8 art cards and a 48-page booklet containing an interview with, quotes from, and inspirations by director Jim Hosking; as well as behind-the-scenes, production design, and poster gallery photos. Everything is housed in a side-loading hardbox slipcase with artwork that re-creates the “By the Wife” Heatable Breaded Veggie “Nuggets” packaging as seen in the film. This release is exclusive to the Umbrella webstore and limited to 500 units. A standard version without the deluxe packaging, poster, booklet, and art cards is also available. The following disc-based extras are included on both releases, all of them in HD:
- Audio Commentary with Jim Hosking and Andrew Hung
- On the Set of Ebony & Ivory (7:03)
- Outtakes (4 in all – 7:52)
- Ebony & Ivory: Elijah Wood in Conversation with Dave Lee (7:02)
- Trailer (2:28)
The commentary with director Jim Hosking and composer Andrew Hung descends mostly into the two of them reacting to the film rather than discussing behind-the-scenes details about it, though Hung does ask Hosking questions along the way. It’s not a great track, but it’s humorous and entertaining enough to pass muster. On the Set of Ebony & Ivory is a short collection of raw B-roll of various scenes being filmed. The Outtakes are basically scene extensions, and in one case, almost a full deleted scene in and of itself. All of it is better off not in the final film, but it’s interesting to see what Hosking was willing to cut versus what got left in. Next is a brief interview with executive producer Elijah Wood, co-owner of SpectreVision, who is interviewed by producer and filmmaker Dave Lee via Skype about why his production company chose to fund the film and what his feelings are on the final product. Last is the red-band trailer, though it’s worth noting that the state-side Drafthouse Films Blu-ray and DVD releases also include a green-band trailer.
Ebony & Ivory is definitely not for just anyone, nor is any of Jim Hosking’s filmography for that matter, but if you’re willing to give it a try, prepare yourself for the theatre of the amusingly bizarre. Umbrella’s Blu-ray treatment puts its U.S. counterpart to shame, offering a strong presentation, nice extras, and a beautiful package. Recommended to those with a penchant for the peculiar.
- Tim Salmons
(You can follow Tim on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd. And be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel here.)